Chiefs really ‘reclaiming’ the PSL glory

Kgothatso Madisa
@kgmadisa

Siyabonga Nkosi. Picture: Mtnfootball.com

'Reclaiming the glory' is now a phrase that every soccer fan is familiar with, especially those who follow the Premier Soccer League (PSL) closely.

To those who do not pay much attention to what proves to be the most interesting league in Africa at the moment, 'Reclaiming the glory' is Kaizer Chiefs motto for this season as they are in a quest to win their first league title in a shocking seven seasons. It has really been dry at Naturena.

The Glamour Boys have shown significant improve this season as compared to the latter seasons, keeping in mind that they finished in the embarrassing fifth position in 2011-12.

They have been leading the 2012-13 season since the first quarter and by show of events, the Naturena boys are not intending on settling for anything less than top finish.

Bernard Parker and fans. Picture: Kaizer Chiefs

Moroka Swallows became the recent unfortunate PSL team to witness the wrath of Chiefs with a clear objective mission of lifting the trophy at the end of the season when they were thrashed 3 - 1 in a lesser famous - but a lot would agree - much more interesting Soweto Derby on Saturday evening.

Chiefs is currently leading the log with 55 points, six more than the second-placed Platinum Stars and nine more than their Soweto counterparts Orlando Pirates who still have a game in hand.

Motaung boys came from a goal behind and managed to overcome the strong Swallows in a 4-goal frenzy match that left a lot of questions hanging about the referees motives on the night.

Swallows fans and players left the Dobsonville Stadium in not the best of moods because of what they believe was bad referring from Buyile Qubula after he denied two penalty attempts by Katlego Mashego, forcing him to take a third one which keeper Itumeleng Khune stopped.

All Swallows fans should know this: Siyabonga Nomvethe ran into the penalty box on both penalty kick attempts before Mashego kicked the ball and subsequently receiving a yellow card (which should have been a red) and costing the team a goal. He is the one you should be directing all frustrations to, not the referee.

The referee let it go the first time because he believed it was a mistake from his overeagerness demeanour on the night but he felt he needed to take action when he did the same during the retake.

With that out of the way, here are a few pointers from the match:

1. Bernard Parker finally ended his goal-scoring drought and added two more to his tally subsequently steering Chiefs to their 26th league victory. Critics who claim to know more suggest that he is back into his goal scoring form because he was waiting for Chiefs to extend his contract, could this be true?

2. George Lebese deserves a mention, he played really well, probably one of the best games he has had since joining the Glamour Boys. He scored the third and final goal for the team and sealed the deal on the night, what a great comeback from his injury.

3. I expected a lot from Kingston Nkatha, he was really disappointing to watch. Lebese played his best to provide him with brilliantly executed crosses but he failed on numerous occasions to place the ball behind the keeper.

4. Siyabonga Nkosi is a very important ammunition for Chiefs, even teammate Parker said that he deserved to be the Man of the Match on the night. It is really baffling as to why he does not get a lot of game time, especially when they play against Orlando Pirates.

5. From Swallows side, besides probably being the reason why they lost, Siyabonga Nomvethe did not really help the team much, especially in the second half of the game. He should have been substituted after the 65th minute because that's when he started being really scarce.

5. Katlego Mashego also had a good game, a goal would have really been a great reward for his hard work.

6. The experienced David Mathebula was brought in late, he could have been very useful in the 70th minute when the Chiefs bunch was a bit worn off.